Wireless networks, such as wireless local area networks (WLANs) are widely used. Locating radios in a wireless communication network such as a WLAN enables new and enhanced features, such as location-based services and location-aware management. Location-based services include, for example, locating or tracking of a wireless device, assigning a device, e.g., a closest printer to a wireless station of a WLAN, and controlling the wireless device based on its location.
Accurate indoor localization using a satellite based Global Positioning System (GPS) is difficult to achieve because the GPS signals are attenuated when the signals propagate through obstacles, such as roof, floors, walls and furnishing. Consequently, the signal strength becomes too low for localization in indoor environments.
Concurrently, the enormous growth of WiFi radio frequency (RF) chipsets embedded within different devices, such as computers, smartphones, stereos, and televisions, prompt a need for indoor location methods for WiFi equipped devices based on, or leveraging, existing WiFi signals, i.e., any signal based on the Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) 802.11 standard. Some methods for indoor localization use signal strength measurement and assume that the received signal power is an invertible function of the distance, thus knowledge of the received power implies a distance from the transmitter of the signal. Other methods attempt to make further use of the large scale deployment of WiFi devices along with advances in machine learning and propose fingerprinting along with self-localization and mapping.
However, the methods that solely rely on conventional Wi-Fi chipsets for indoor localization use measured received signal strength (RSS) levels obtained from the Wi-Fi chipsets. Those methods require training, which includes measuring the RSS levels offline in the indoor environment. The measurements are then supplied to the localization method during online use.
One limitation associated with the training is in that the offline measurements are often unreliable. This is because the RSS levels in the environment vary dynamically over time, for example, due to changes in the number of occupants, the furnishing and locations of the APs. This implies that the training needs to be repeated whenever the environment changes.
In addition, the offline methods use predetermined path loss exponents in a path loss model with online measurements of the RSS levels to determine the indoor location. After those path loss exponents are predetermined, the values of the path loss exponents stay the same for the entire process of the location tracking and assumed the same for the entire sections of the environment.
Therefore, it is desired to perform RSS based localization in an unsupervised manner, i.e., without training.